Over 500 players competed in last weekend’s APP Dallas Open, hosted at the massive Oasis Pickleball Club in Rockwall, TX.
In Atlanta, we saw some new faces take home the gold for the first time, but last weekend in Dallas, the top seeds reclaimed their spot on the podium. However, the journey to those podium finishes was full of twists and turns, and we saw a couple of new faces reach Championship Sunday!
Women’s Singles
Kicking things off was women’s singles, where we got to see Megan Fudge go back-to-back with gold by taking down Salome Devidze in the finals! Although Devidze has dominated singles all year, it looks like Fudge has finally broken free from silver and is hoping to stay on top.
Fudge had a difficult main draw, but managed to take down Christa Gecheva in the round of 8 (11-2, 11-6) and also Judit Castillo (13-11, 4-11, 11-2), whom Fudge faced in the finals in Atlanta. Devidze met Fudge in the semis, where she got knocked out in three games, but then went on to defeat Judit Castillo in the back draw finals (3-11, 11-8, 11-9).
Devidze took that win to heart and had an amazing first two games in the finals (11-2, 11-1), which pushed the match to a 15-point tiebreaker. Fudge came out on top (15-9), securing her second gold medal in singles for 2023.
Men’s Singles
After taking a week off of singles in Atlanta, Hunter Johnson jumped back in and had an absolute field day. It was a flawless weekend for him in singles, as he didn’t drop a single game throughout the entire event!
Johnson met Christopher Haworth in the finals, who also had his best run of the season so far! Haworth managed to take down Hunter’s brother Yates Johnson in the round of 8, and knocked out one of our favorites, Jack Foster, in a close 3-game quarter-finals match.
Johnson and Haworth met in both the semifinals and finals, and Johnson was in clear control of both matches, achieving an impressive 11-4, 11-1 finish to earn gold.
Women’s Doubles
Megan Fudge and Susannah Barr go back-to-back in gold medals after an incredible performance in Dallas! Together, they went undefeated until they faced off against Milly Rane and Bobbi Oshiro in the semifinals/finals.
Women’s doubles also witnessed the rise of Rane and Oshiro. The 4-seeds managed to take down one of the best teams in the APP, Parris Todd and Simone Jardim, in a quick 2-game match in the quarter-finals (11-6, 11-4).
From there, they had two incredibly close matches against #FudgeBarr, but weren’t able to seal the deal. While they didn’t take home the gold, it was exciting to see the duo find their footing, and we expect to see them back at Championship Sunday in no time!
Men’s Doubles
Nobody can stop Andrei Daescu and Rob Nunnery in men’s doubles. No one. They add yet another gold medal to their belt this season, making the two of them one of the winningest teams on tour right now!
Daescu and Nunnery went up against Stefan Auvergne and Daniel De La Rosa, who debuted as a team this tournament. The two played well together, defeating some tough teams, like that of MLP Challenger Level MVP CJ Klinger and his partner Ross Whittaker.
However, Auvergne and De La Rosa were no match for Daescu and Nunnery, who 2-0’d them in the semis and then went on to 2-0 them again in the finals (11-6, 11-6). If things don’t dramatically change going into the next tournament, we have no idea who could possibly stop the dynamic duo of Daescu and Nunnery.
Mixed Doubles
Finally, we closed our time at the APP Dallas Open with mixed doubles. The APP Tour’s favorite partners, both on and off the court, Parris Todd and Hunter Johnson, go back-to-back with another big gold medal finish.
The two played lights-out pickleball all weekend, including a 2-0 win over Daescu and Barr in the semis (11-7, 11-9). While Daescu and Barr still look in sync as a team, Johnson and Todd seemed to have the upper hand on them throughout both the semis and finals, where they won gold (11-7, 7-11, 12-10).
“It’s just that instinct out there, I mean we always just kind of track the ball. You see the ball, hit the ball, and really, it’s as simple as that. It helps that we know each other so well; we know each other on the court, and we just kind of know which balls are ours… It worked out in our favor, and we’re just happy to get the win today.”
Hunter Johnson
